Last week, I got to play a beta version of Bungie's brand new video game, 'Destiny'. To say I was excited to roam around this brave new world would be an understatement, ever since the original 'Borderlands' dug its claws into my attention, I've been waiting for a game that's threatened to cut me that deep again. And 'Destiny' achieved that instantly. It reminded me why I fell in love with games in the first place: the stories they tell, the escapism, the atmosphere and how sometimes in some games you feel superhuman. Like when you get a huge killstreak in 'Call of Duty' or 'Halo' for example. Some games out there have amazing worlds, which I spoke about here, but 'Destiny' just blew all my expectations away. It's got everything I love: capes, science-fiction, an amazing soundtrack and a world that demands to be explored. So, stories in video games. How are they?

Forward Beyond the Stars

Books are the ultimate storytellers, but video games allow immersion into the story, and they offer interactivity unmatched by any other story platform. There are loads of games that follow a book format, in the sense that you have no choice but to follow a path designed by the author. Games like 'Call of Duty' are prime examples where the player has no choice how the story unfolds. Whereas, 'Skyrim' is all about player choice and forging your own path, ignoring quests and just starting a new virtual life in a new virtual land. So many 'Skyrim' players take it to the next level, create fan-fiction and make up back stories for their characters. 'World of Warcraft' probably has the same effect as well. I've always loved a good story, video games for me were just another way to get that fix and now with powerful technology backing consoles, the power to create giant stories in giant worlds can now reach beyond the stars. That's where 'Destiny' comes in.

In 'Destiny', you are a Guardian of the Earth's Last City protected by a gigantic globe called the Traveler. It's up to you and hundreds of other real players to protect Earth from different alien races and cement humanity's future. You could say it's typical science-fiction 101, but I don't mind. When you experience this game, it's so much more. As soon as I landed feet first on Earth, I knew I'd love it. I wanted to explore everything about the beta, learn about the lore and keep playing until the beta said 'no, go to bed'. With science-fiction, or any story, I don't really know what I'm after until I see it. I'll read anything and try to absorb myself in any universe, but 'Destiny' found me and now I'm totally hooked. It actually reminded me why I love science-fiction in the first place. Plus, Bungie made 'Halo' which is sci-fi gold and right now, I'm listening to the 'Halo 3' soundtrack. If it can create an engaging story from start to finish then that'll be something special, but given the nature of how the game works with other players, it might be harder than expected to keep the story going. Hey, there's always multi-player, and it's fantastic.

Golden Games

Video games can tell incredible stories, maybe more so than books given the genre, of course. One of my most favourite stories is from the game 'Bioshock' which has a plot twist that's so unexpected, your jaw will still be on the floor well after you've finished the game. 'Metal Gear Solid' is so complex and unique that a film adaptation would never do it justice and 'Halo' is profound, simple and engaging in every way. Mind you, 'Halo' has a gallery of books to go with its video game narrative, but that just shows the power of its story! I'll always prefer a good book over a game, but that doesn't mean that video games are in any way less capable of telling a story. I've heard people slate video games because of what they are or that they are pointless, but such people can never be torn free from their ignorance. I don't like films, but I get why many love them and that's OK. Video games offer something else, they let you experience something nothing else can- to feel superhuman. Whether that means dominating a matchmaking game, defeating dragons or ordering people around in 'The Sims'. You'll always come back for that fix. And I guess that makes it an addiction worth relapsing.

'Destiny' launches on the 9th of September and I can't wait to dive in alone and with friends to explore the Solar System. And that's another thing, playing with your friends is perhaps the ultimate escapism. All worries disappear for a while when me and some mates blast on 'Halo' and have a laugh. Because no matter how deep the story may be, it's the laughs and fun you have that really make the experience sometimes and when you're done fighting aliens in the virtual world, you can always jump in with friends and fight other human players in a virtual world and have a good time. Books are designed to make you happy, and video games are as well.

Should we embrace change or should we just stay stuck in our old ways? I say nuts to the latter, change is a good thing, especially in creative worlds. A week ago, my favourite band 'Rise Against' released their brand new record, 'The Black Market'. It's their seventh album and if they've earned the right to experiment and try something new, seven is the magic number. That got me thinking about how we react to new things, like our favourite bands and new books from authors we love. Would we rather have something different every time or would we want them to make similar efforts and keep us happy with a steady stream of sameness? It's also made me think about how I tackle new projects and those same questions come around every time.

Trafficking in the Black Market

Music fans could be the main culprits for the argument. All it takes is a quick glance at a YouTube comment to see how they feel about a song. I can only speak for 'Rise Against' in this case, but one call many hardcore fans chant is 'make another album like 'Revolutions Per Minute'!' Yeah, that was when they were still unknown and they were channeling their energy in a certain way. A great album? Absolutely, but why would you want it again? If bands stuck to the same formula with every record, everybody would complain that they can never change. Just like if they do change, they'll complain that they can't stick to their roots. To me, bands should evolve, they should try something new. You shouldn't be stuck in a genre just because the first album was punk. Then again, most bands do, but they tweak their style within that genre. If 'Rise Against' starts writing heavy metal music then we can yell at them. 'The Black Market' is an album that stands on its own two feet, it's something different, a perfect blend between the old and the new. And I love it. Surprise, surprise that my Songs of the Week are all from that record.

Authors get to genre-jump with more freedom, I think. Good, because I love to write contemporary stories, but I also love science fiction. If I could only pick two worlds, it would be YA contemporary and science fiction. Stephen King writes loads of books and each one stands alone as its own story. Every time I read one of his novels, it feels completely different from the last and that's how I feel about my own work. Once I write something, I want to try something new. If I got stuck writing similar stories all the time, I'd probably lose my mind. Maybe I wouldn't, but I bet I would. That's why I admire authors like Cassandra Clare and J.K Rowling, those guys have the willpower and the love to stick with a series with the same amount of passion they started with. I'm a standalone story kind of guy. Maybe one day I'll write a series. I hope so. Speaking of series's, Tom Rob Smith wrote a fantastic trilogy of Soviet Russian crime novels and his latest book, 'The Farm' which came out earlier this year was completely different- a contemporary thriller set in England and Sweden. Loving the change and it allowed his audience to read a different part of his literary interests. Top book.

Crumbling Castles

There comes a time though when listening to the same albums or reading the same books over and over loses its appeal. A few years ago, 'The Offspring' released their latest album, a record that took years to make and at first I loved it, probably because I hadn't heard new 'Offspring' in ages. Then, on my second listening I found out that many of the songs were simple, jaded and nothing interesting. The telltale signs of a band starting to fray. I can't judge, I've never been in a band and I can't think up an original tune, but everybody can make honest criticism. I'm sure it'll happen to everybody eventually, that spark will die and you've made your last 'new' creation. With hope, that won't happen until the day we die so then we have the perfect excuse. 'Well, why haven't you made anything new?' Well, didn't you hear? I died. It's hard though, trying to do different things every time and I can't blame bands or maybe even authors for their reluctance to leave familiar ground. Most books I read from the same author don't feel the same from their last. John Green's books are all different, the same as Stephen King and that's how I like it.

So, my advice would be simple: write what the hell you want. If you want to stick to what you know the most, then go for it. Nobody knows better than the person writing the story or making the music, but everybody will criticize what you do. But, there are some poor sods out there who'll make it personal. The internet allows for such low-level obscurity. As long as you do what makes you happy, then that's all that matters. Screw everybody else.

I've made it to that wonderful and saddening place writers reach once in a while- the end of the first draft. My latest work is finished and ready to edit later on. I've been here a few times, so it's not as frightening anymore, in fact, it's much more exciting that scary and that's the way it should be. By now I know what's expected of me and what I need to do to make sure the manuscript is as good as it needs to be. It's quite sad though, now that the 'writing' process of the novel is done and down the road, I've got to edit the damn thing before letting anybody else see it. Sure, I love editing, but I also love seeing where the story will go and I like surprising myself with where the narrative goes. So, would you like to know how this all came about? Good.

Where I Was

This novel, code-named 'ACICH' is actually a full on rewrite from my original manuscript. About a year ago, I tried writing this story, finished it, edited it and everything. But, come the end of the editing, I was so bored of the book that I couldn't possibly try my luck with sending it out for somebody to take a look at. I'd never felt that way about a novel before, but I was so sick of it. At first I thought it might be because I spent such a long time working on it and when editing, I knew where the story was going. It's like reading a book, over and over and OVER again. I don't care how much you love that book, repeated readings are going to grate on you after a while. Maybe that was part of it, but mostly, my novel held no interest in the story. I planned it all out so you had to wait until about halfway for the story to kick in. I like stories that don't hang around, and I found that out from editing. When I edited 'WIRCP', I never got bored of it. Sure, editing after a while can get a bit monotonous, but hopefully if you love your book enough, that won't matter. Comparing both editing experiences made me realize that 'ACICH' needed something else for it to work.

So, I decided to write it again. However, even though it retains the same cast, setting and title, the story itself is completely different. I only discovered the main crux of the story a day before writing the damn thing and I had to work around my plan. Mind you, loads changed from my plan and that can only be a good thing. I find that when you write a story, you're in the mind of the fiction a lot more than you are when planning and things jump out at you and better ideas come around. I just like having a plan as a safety net. These days, I'm relying less on them and more on my mind when writing. Still, I like safety nets. What can I say, I'm afraid of heights. I thought I'd hate editing, and that's only because I hated video editing at college and uni. Then I remembered: I love literature. I don't love media studies. Editing is awesome, I love linking inconsistencies and making the story wholehearted. Every writer has metaphors about editing and writing, I'll avoid those. We know that editing makes the story better and all first drafts suck. It's sad though that the writing is almost over. I don't know if I prefer editing over writing, both are fantastic, but after a month of resting the novel, I'm going to have a hell of a time leaping back into the story of 'ACICH'.

Where I Am

I started writing 'ACICH' in late May and now, in mid July, I've finished the first draft. My deadline for finishing the whole book is around the end of summer, but I suspect I'll run through autumn for a bit. Deadlines matter, but I won't part with it until I'm happy with it. If you're not happy with your work, you're not finished. I have further ideas for new novels, I'd like to finish another book by the end of the year and as long as I work hard, stay on time and keep my head in the game and all the other wordy nonsense you can think of, I'll finish it. These days I find myself caring less and less about how many words others write for their books. As long as your stories are as long as they need to be, that's fine. I like books that are around 250-350 pages, that's a perfect length to me. I don't really go for mammoth word counts, as long as the story doesn't outstay its welcome. Anyway, I'm incredibly happy so far with 'ACICH' and I'll go on record and say that it's massively better than the original write-up from last year. Unlike that one, the story now starts on the first page and not halfway through. Next month I start editing.

687,000 pieces of 'Harry Potter' fan-fiction are online right now on fanfiction.net, the world's largest fan-fiction website. If that isn't the most loving thing a fan of your work can do for you, then I don't know what is. Fan-fiction is buzzing these days, all one has to do is go on Tumblr and check out the fandoms of all the winning TV shows these days and you'll find a wealth of stories people have written. Not to mention all the GIFs they've made as well. Fan-fiction is a wonderful way for a fan to give something back to the creator and to show the world that 'yes, I am a fan of 'Prison Break' as well. Read my bromance love story between Michael and Sucre, love it!' It's an enormous community that's still growing and I am all for it dominating the world. Not everybody thinks so, though.

Oh, just FYI, 'Prison Break' ended in 2009 and has 2,000 stories on fanfiction.net. Shame.

What's Mine is Yours and Yours is Mine

Now, obviously a big beef a lot of people have about fan-fiction (especially authors) is that fans are basically ripping their characters off, messing around with them and ruining what makes them great. Then again, one might ask, 'why the hell shouldn't Mario team up with the Master Chief and Jack Bauer to stop the evil Darleks and Doctor Eggman from taking over Westeros?' That is up for debate, but fan-fiction allows fans to go wild, let their favourite characters follow the paths they wish they took. I mean, how many characters did you love and got untimely deaths? 'The Walking Dead' and 'Game of Thrones' are great examples and who are we to say that nobody deserves to see those characters live again under different circumstances. But, some authors disagree. Understandable when you think about it, they put a lot of hard work creating a convincing and imaginative world and the characters that inhabit them are known best by the author, so surely the author knows best. Yes, but there's no harm in alternate narratives. You could say 'Wolfenstein' is fan-fiction on the Second World War if you wanted to. Nobody would stop you. Except that it isn't true, because the Second World War wasn't made up. 'Wolfenstein' is.

I used to write a lot of fan-fiction about the video game, 'Borderlands'. I loved the world so much and thought that some of the characters deserved more time on stage so I took them, threw in some of my own made up ones and took a shot at telling a story. 'Borderlands' has plenty of characters who don't have much time on screen, but the world of Pandora creates so many story opportunities. And isn't that what a great world should do as well? If you love a certain fictional universe, then you want more of it or better still, you create more of it yourself. I wrote several 'Borderlands' stories and loved them all. I don't write fan-fiction anymore though, I've done my bit for the fandom and I haven't finished any fan-fiction work since. I guess I'm confident in my own writing now so I don't need the guidance of a preexisting universe. And that brings up another good point, fan-fiction is an excellent gateway for aspiring writers to try out their writing skills and see what's what. We all say 'write what you love', writing fan-fiction then is a no-brainer. Find a universe you love and show fanfiction.net what you've got. The community are a nice bunch.

A Legal Problem

However, where I draw the line on fan-fiction is whether or the fan-fiction is making money. If a fan-fiction writer claims its their own work or in anyway makes profit from it, then I say nuts to that. If anything, the money should probably go to the published author who built that universe for you to write about. I'd hate it if somebody made money from something I made. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for fan-fiction, if somebody out there wrote their own story based on a world I made, I'd be flattered that they actually loved it that much to put their own spin on things. It's a huge compliment. J.K Rowling is all game for fan-fiction, just look at the stuff on fanfiction.net! Gobs of stories. George. R.R Martin doesn't condone it at all, which is sad considering how popular the 'Game of Thrones' TV show has gotten. That being said, from what I can work out from what I've read, the legality of fan-fiction remains sketchy, I don't think there's one whole rule that says fan-fiction is illegal. If there was one, wouldn't fanfiction.net be removed from the wide world of web? I'm not keyed up on legal matters or how the internet handles it, but people will still make fan-fiction even if its not on the page. You've got your toys like LEGO for the kids like 'Star Wars' and 'Lord of the Rings'. Kids may not realise they may be making fan-fiction, but they are. Even video games, I used to always make up stories playing 'Grand Theft Auto IV'. That pretty much shows my mental age, but dammit I liked it! Fantasy games and books offer limitless story ideas. And it's a wonderful thing.

Fan-fiction is awesome, there are some great stories out there made by fans, but I can understand why some may be against it. It makes perfect sense, but what I think you have to remember is as long as they don't make money off of it, fan-fiction is a perfectly harmless and wonderful way to write.

If there's a great book out there that's gathered up awards, gotten a great reception and a fan following, you can bet your hard-earned pennies that someone out there in the far away world of film has their eyes set on making a movie out of it. Is it a bad thing? Well, that depends if you're one of those elitists that believe that books should stay books and directors should scratch their brains for something original to make. Problems with that. One, nothing original exists anymore, or if it does then we haven't found it yet. I still think that 'Harry Potter' is the most original 'out there' idea since Aldous Huxley's 'Brave New World'. And two, If you think you've got something new, then write it and believe in it. Ideas get taken all of the time and what makes them interesting are the little twists that storytellers create. Also, adaptations allow the story of the novel to take a different route, in essence, film adaptations may as well be fan-fiction, kind of.

Looking for Character

I'm not against adaptations. I don't care much for the film industry, or films anyway so maybe I'm speaking from the wrong podium, but nonetheless, adaptations are a tricky thing to get right. That's pretty much because if you get any little thing wrong from the book, then fans will shun it and bitch about it 'not being in canon!' Then again, if the film gets everything right, the setting, details, characters, the whole spiel, then you can't really call it an adaptation, just a copy. I haven't seen a film where every detail is the same as the book, the film ought to try something different. Some of your favourite scenes from books may not translate so well on the screen. That's why I fear I'd cringe if I watched 'The Fault in Our Stars'. Tip top book, but some of the dialogue is so close to cheesy, but it gets away with it because somehow, it works in the book. Gus' first lines with Hazel are great in the novel, but when I saw him say them in the trailer, eugh. I realize I may be the loner there, but then again, maybe I just can't spot good acting. Hardly surprising, I'm not interested in film. Then why write about?! Well, I'll tell you.

On the 25th of June, 2014, I heard news that stopped the world. No, nobody got assassinated and no teams won sports. John Green announced that Sarah Polley would direct 'Looking for Alaska'. Now, 'The Fault in Our Stars' did well, very well so it's no surprise we'll see more films. But, I'm worried. Not because I'm scared they'll ruin the magic of the book or Alaska Young won't be anywhere near as cool on the big screen as she is on the page, hell, I'm not even bothered if Dr Hyde is healthy and a young gun. Nope, I'm terrified I'll never remember how I pictured the book when I read it again. Because that's the worst thing in my opinion about film adaptations, they hijack your memories and stay there forever. I've not seen 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest', but I've read it twice and I always picture McMurphy as Jack Nicholson who acts like McMurphy, but doesn't look much like him. It's the same story with 'The Shawshank Redemption', I read it with the film in my head. However, it's one of the only films made that I adore so I can let that slide.

Filthy Language

I'm sick of hearing it but it'll never go away. We've all heard someone say this, and we've probably said it as well. 'The film was good, but the book was better.' There's lots of reasons why they're probably right, most of those I said above, but here's the real reason, and I truly believe this. You read the book with your own imagination. Everything you imagine is unique to you, nobody will have the same experience you had and everything the book describes, your brain does its best to create a perfect picture of it. So, yeah, the book is always better. Unless, of course, the film made everything just how you imagined it in your head, then OK, maybe the film is better. No, it would still be worse. Films are easy to enjoy, half the work's been done for you. The images and character descriptions are all spoon-fed whereas books are not. You do the bloody thinking for yourself. I sound like a snob, sorry about that.

Film adaptations aren't a bad thing, just remember the next time you visit the cinema that you will be disappointed. Unless you haven't read the source material- then go nuts. Adaptations aren't supposed to get everything right just for you, they're another way for fans to visit their favourite stories and enjoy them for what they are. So what if a character doesn't appear to be the same as they were in the book? Live with it. Anyway, I know its hard. I was annoyed when I saw the reboot of Spider-Man and discovered that the socially awkward, nerdy, closed in and shy Peter Parker turned into a skater-hipster with good hair and a cocky attitude. Then again, it's contemporary, but not at all what Peter's like in the comics I read. Toby Maguire all the way.